


Fancy-dress Fundraising

by AquaFish



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2015-01-11
Packaged: 2018-02-24 13:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2582375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaFish/pseuds/AquaFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A terrible tragedy has struck the nomads, charities are appealing for donations to help redeem the crisis. Teams RWBY and JNPR (primarily) hold a fundraising event at Beacon - which involves dressing up and sponge-throwing at teachers.<br/>P.S. this is inspired by the British charity Children In Need, the national day of which is held on the second Friday of November. It does wonderful work for disadvantaged children in the UK, as many charities often do for their respective causes. Wherever you are, please donate to one :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Amongst the bad shall rise something good

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone :) This is my first time on any writing website and consequently my first 'published' work (as in for the world to see). Feedback would be most appreciated! Thanks x

It had been Yang’s idea to begin with.

The surprise Grimm attack on a number of nomads leaving disease and orphaned children in its wake had been blasted on the news for merely a couple of days, when Yang blurted, “We’ve got to do something!”

Weiss glanced up from the swirling web of an essay she was writing for Prof. – or Dr, they weren’t sure which to use at school – Oobleck. “What can we do?” she sighed. 

“Go out there!” Yang pointed dramatically at a library window. “And give them the support they need!”

Blake, without looking up from her book, offered her views almost monotonously. “The support they need is medical. Sorry, Yang, but I think the Grimm themselves have been taken care of.”

Yang sank back into her chair with a defeated sigh. Fighting, becoming a huntress, for her it was all about the thrill. She had admitted to her team during their away mission that she had no real motive other than that – but helping people would be an added bonus. She had figured that, if she and her teammates could get over to the affected area, their participation in the fight would be the help those poor orphans desperately needed. It would certainly make the thrill worthwhile.

It was Yang who started it all. Ruby was the one who fuelled it.

The small dark-haired girl was having a long debate with Jaune about how to spell “simultaneously”. After Ren’s intervention, it turned out that neither of them were correct. She had still been listening to her sister’s woes, and abandoned her spelling match to pat Yang on the shoulder.

“I know it’s not much,” she said, “but you could always donate to the cause. They’re in desperate need of medical equipment; so many people were hurt and disease is spreading…”

“That ain’t how I roll sis,” Yang cut in with a shake of her gold locks. “I’ll donate of course, but I won’t feel satisfied. I need to do something more significant than that. Something big!”

Ruby tipped her head back in thought. “I don’t know…you could host a fundraising event, maybe?”

It was Yang who started it, Ruby who fuelled it, and Nora who completely glorified it.

She leapt up from seat, actually standing on it in a dramatic pose, one fist punching the air, and she declared grandly, “We could all do fancy-dress!”

The initial reaction to the proposal was not well-received.

“No,” said Blake simply.

“How many people would actually want to do that?” added Weiss.

“They will if you advertise it well,” Pyrrha offered, and losing her place in the dictionary where she was trying to prove to Jaune that her version of “necessary” was correct. It wasn’t.

“And it doesn’t just have to be dressing up!” Ruby’s silver eyes gleamed. “We could have a bake sale! With cookies!”

“Lame,” Yang moaned.

At that moment, Nora leapt from her lofty perch on the chair, and twirled around Yang with each idea bombardment.

“There could be a cake sale – but only those who dress up can buy a cake, and they’ll be very good cakes! We could have a mass game of Twister! Or a water fight and people have to bet on the winner, the prize being a box of chocolates! WE COULD THROW SPONGES AT THE TEACHERS!”

The final idea had been loud enough for her to receive a brusque “QUIET!” from the head librarian down the aisle.

The discussion continued in hushed murmurs. Luckily both teams were gathered around the same table and so could here each other easily.

“D’you really think we could get this big enough?” said Yang.

“With posters and announcements, yes!” Nora beamed.

“Crank up the hype,” added Jaune.

Weiss wrinkled her nose as if it were being lightly tickled by a tiny feather. “You’ll need permission from Prof. Ozpin. I wouldn’t get your hopes too high though.”

But Yang’s were already soaring. She flashed the white-haired ‘Ice Queen’ a winning smile. “Why would he say no when it’s for a good cause?” She leapt up from her seat, the legs of the chair scraping back with an ear-splitting screech. The exasperated taps of the head librarian’s heels stalked down the aisle.

“Ruby, Nora, come with me!” Yang blurted in a hurried whisper. “You’re good with ideas. Pyrrha, you come too, any teacher will listen to you!”

And so the four girls scurried down one of the many aisles in giggly excitement, disappearing from view just as the head librarian emerged before their table.

“I told you,” she hissed at the remaining, yet innocent, students, “be QUIET!”

The final word had been stressed the loudest a whisper would allow, and the librarian had shown a hilarious proportion of her mouth while saying it. This caused Jaune to chuckle, followed by, Weiss, and before long all four of them were clutching their sides with tears rolling down their cheeks. The girls returned triumphant from their visit to Ozpin to find their friends having been kicked out of the library for “being a disruptive influence”, still giggling away, but in a much lighter spirit about the fundraising event.


	2. In which there is a super-sized sombrero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the fundraising event had dawned, and Beacon has probably never been so colourful since the epic food fight between RWBY and JNPR.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The media mentioned (songs/books/films) are entirely fictitious.  
> Also, RWBY is American, so i am trying to make this sound as American as possible. By that I mean expressions rather than spelling (colour=color). Hope I've succeeded to some extent!

Preparations were swiftly underway.

With the aim to hold the event as soon as possible – a week on Friday, in fact – working round the clock was to be expected. Breaks, meals and evenings were dedicated to either discussions or practical work. Some of the preparations were even snuck in during a lesson or two, generally those of Prof. Port, when he launched into his daily ritual rambles on his esteemed Grimm-hunting career.

Blake and Ren designed the posters, Yang and Pyrrha were elected to talk before the school in assemblies, Nora was on cake duty, Ruby and Weiss sweet-talked students and teachers alike into a range of fundraising activities, and Jaune’s task was to buy the items for said activities.

Teams SSSN and CFVY volunteered to help, the latter willing to run the cake stall and entice more people into getting involved somehow. Sun’s team just did as they were told, not wanting to get on the wrong end of an increasingly stressed Yang, and Sun wanted to impress Blake by being helpful in the good cause.

Despite Yang’s stress, getting the event together was the easiest part. The hardest element came from every girl’s (and now every boy’s) mouth: “What will I wear?”

During one of her talks, Yang had recommended that they didn’t spend much Lien at all on their costumes, seeing as most of the proceeds should go towards helping the stricken nomads. It was all very well for the other students; they had more time. The event organisers all had three days left and still no idea what to go as.

Happily, that all changed, thanks to a mispronunciation.

There was a substitute teacher covering for Prof. Peach that day, who didn’t know any of the students’ names, relied solely on the register, and misread Jaune’s name. For the entire lesson, Jaune was addressed by the substitute teacher as “Juan”, sparking explosive giggles each time it happened and him earning it as a teasing-nickname by Sun and Neptune. That was when inspiration struck.

“I shall go as Juan Jose Arkez!” the leader of team JNPR announced that lunch time. “All I need are a poncho, maracas, and a sombrero!”

Somehow, seeing one of them finally get an idea sparked the rest to follow. Characters from songs, movies, comics and books would be the alter egos of the teams, each depending on their preferences. It was also a lucky coincidence that there was a sale at the popular fancy-dress store “Impress”, in Vale. The boys went there that evening, mainly courtesy of Ren, who needed a tribal headdress, and Jaune who wanted “the biggest sombrero I can find!”

The girls would go the next day, for now they were circled on the floor of team RWBY’s dorm, working out times for different events. Nora nudged Pyrrha.

“Maybe Jaune will serenade you with his guitar?” she whispered with a wink. Pyrrha’s face flushed as red as her hair. 

 

Friday dawned with much apprehension and relief. Ruby was the first to wake up in team RWBY’s dorm, and took it upon herself to rouse the others like Nora did Ren every morning – only without the gabbling demand for pancakes.

“Go away, Ruby!” Weiss grumbled, and swatted away the hand shaking her shoulder. “It’s way too early.” 

Ruby pouted at her friend. “You asked me to wake you up early so you had time to paint your face.”

Weiss buried her current dark-circles-under-the-eyes face deeper into her pillow. “Uv change mi miiiind.”

“You do want to impress Neptune, don’t you?”

The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company peered up from the pillow, her ice blue eyes narrowed in a frosty glare. It only caused Ruby’s beam to widen in triumph.

“I really hate you sometimes, Ruby,” Weiss growled, and crawled out of her covers. “You know that?”

“I’ve known since forever!” Ruby laughed back, and set about rousing the other two; a decidedly harder task seeing as Yang was like a fiery demon whenever anyone tried to wake her a whole hour before what she deemed as appropriate, let alone two. And Blake, well, just slept like a cat.

Grumbling and muttering and moaning when a button wouldn’t fasten, the girls awkwardly clambered into something that wasn’t their uniforms at last. Though the transition from pyjamas to costume had been rather unenthusiastic, the end result of their work sweetened the unwelcome early morning.

“Oh my God, Ruby,” Yang breathed, a delighted smile lighting up her erstwhile cloudy expression. “You really do look like Macy Gallows!”

Macy Gallows was a rock star whose latest song “Maverick” had topped the Remnant charts for a whole month, the music video of which featured her portraying an über-rebellious student. Ruby had torn and scribbled on a school shirt she definitely wouldn’t be using anymore, slashed random ladders in a pair of tights, and borrowed Jaune’s school tie to wear around her head. Everyone had claimed before that Ruby looked just like the singer even though the only similarity was their cropped dark hair, but the costumed student before them now made the girl look like she’d walked straight out of the music video.

“It’s uncanny,” Blake agreed, a small smile spreading across her lips.

“The same can be said to the rest of you!” Ruby beamed. “We all look fantastic! Weiss – see I told you waking you earlier was a good idea.”

Weiss’ rouged mouth curled in a coy smile. Clad in an old fashioned frock and crowned with a large bow, she painted a satisfying likeness to the doll in the hit horror movie “Glass Eyes”. The early morning had indeed been worth it – the time it took for her and Ruby to paint her face was agonizing, but the result was highly pleasing. With her skin paled to bone-china, cheeks rosied and intricate little grey cracks dancing across her jaw and temple, she could perhaps rival the actual doll in the movie.

Blake, feeling brave, presented herself as the female lead from her favourite book, “Ninjas in Love”, and so donned all things tight and black, with her usual scarf pulled up to her chin. Yang, like Ruby, dressed as a musician, but in her case member of a particular punk rock group she went through a phase of loving until about 15. She was adorned in a black halter-neck top and vibrant flame-print leggings. 

Ruby’s eyes shone at her teammates, and she danced on the spot in excitement. “It’s almost breakfast – shall we go see how Jaune and the others have done!”

“Absolutely!” Yang cheered, and punched the air like the rock star she imitated. “But I bet our costumes are better!”

They practically skipped and giggled out of the door, questioning amongst themselves over predictions for the day. Out in the hall, and right by the opposite door, it was Ruby who asked, “I wonder how big a sombrero Jaune managed to find.”

At that, came a muffled shout from behind the door. “Did somebody say ‘sombrero’?”

The door was whisked open, and a brightly dressed señor strummed his ukulele before them. This was not Jaune Arc. It was, well and truly, ‘Juan Arkez’. The poncho was like a woven rainbow, and the black moustache which did not match his bright blond hair could easily rival that of Professor Port’s. Even more startling about the transformation was the sombrero. When he had embarked to find the biggest one, he certainly hadn’t failed; the oversized hat was wider than his shoulders, maybe even wider than the doorframe, and had to be tipped back off his head slightly just so the brim couldn’t obstruct his view.

The four girls just stared, not knowing what to say, whether to compliment or laugh. A decision was made after Jaune’s greeting.

“Hola, señoritas,” he said in a gruff voice to suit the dodgy accent he clearly could not perform well. “Would you care to join me for nachos and fajitas?”

Almost simultaneously, the girls splintered into fits of laughter. Even the rest of team JNPR behind Jaune and his giant sombrero were overcome with the hilarity. 

“Hey,” Jaune protested in his normal voice, feigning hurt. “Charity is no laughing matter!”

Ruby clutched her sides and steeled herself from falling over. “This is though! Man, if there’s any other costumes as good as yours, today is officially a success!” 

Still chortling, the rest of team JNPR filed out of their dorm and stood before their sister team, each side marvelling at the other’s success.

Ren and Nora had made a joint effort in being native tribespeople; the costume sale had not let Ren down either, as his huge feathered headdress was truly fantastic. Both had paint streaked across each cheek, and Ren had a pair of blue handprints on his chest (“Nora insisted she’d do it,” Pyrrha informed the others later). The champion of Mistral herself, with all her renowned skill in battle, had dressed herself as….a hippie.

“That’s rather contradictory,” Weiss remarked.

Pyrrha tossed a loose red lock over her shoulder and grinned. “It’s meant to be.” She’d borrowed a pair of Nora’s denim shorts which happened to have hearts and flowers embroidered into it, and Jaune’s hiking boots which he’d worn during the first semester. A flowery coronet encircled her head, and she’d even tie-dyed the shirt herself.

“As far as handmade costumes are concerned,” Yang declared, “I think it’s a tie between Ruby and Pyrrha.”

The maverick student rock star and the hippie high fived.

If Jaune’s massive sombrero and Pyrrha’s tie-dye hadn’t been enough, the sight of the cafeteria at breakfast was enough to blind a person. Colour seemed to have exploded like during the food fight once between RWBY and JNPR. Only this colour was neither a product of food nor a fight. Propaganda, posters, talks – it had all been a success. As far as the eye could see, everyone was wearing something that was not part of their uniform or every day clothes. Fictional characters, crazy hats, mad face paint; the cafeteria looked like it had been invaded by people from a technicolor parallel universe.

Yang just stood there, stunned to a rare moment of silence. Her violet eyes widened, her breathing seemingly halted, her jaw hung slack.

“Yang?” Blake tugged at her teammates arm.

Ruby pulled a gold lock. “Earth to Yang! Do you read me?”

“Loud and clear,” Yang murmured.  
“Whoo-hoo!!” Nora danced around the group and cheered like an excited child, “We diiid it! We diiid it! We diiid it!”

Ruby smiled, and cocked her head up at her big sister. For Yang Xiao Long to be so silent was truly impressive feat. 

“What do you think, Yang?”

At last, the silence and stillness was shattered. “What do I think?” With a triumphant cry, she hugged the two people either side of her, Ruby and Blake, and danced on the spot. “I think this is AMAZING! We actually pulled it off!”

Weiss cut across like a sudden chill in the summer. “Not to rain on your parade, but dressing up is one thing. Actually raising the money is another.”

And Jaune brought the warm breeze back. “Way ahead of you, Ice Queen. Pyrrha, Ren, Nora.” His teammates stood to attention, and from under his poncho, he revealed three collection buckets swinging from his belt. All three were unhooked and handed to his team, before they marched into the maze of tables and colourful students like a ship cruising headlong against opposing waves. Jaune struck a lively tune on the ukulele to grab everyone’s attention, while the rest of team JNPR waved around the buckets and accepted whatever lien was tossed in.

Yang gave Weiss a playful nudge. “That’s the fundraising taken care of.”

“To some extent,” Weiss sighed with a roll of her eyes. “We have the other events to worry about too.”

“’Take care of’, not worry,” said Blake in an unusual act of optimism. When the others cast her confused looks, she blurted, “I’m done worrying for one day.”

“The correct approach!” The leader of team RWBY cast them all a beatific beam. The word ‘pessimism’ would not exist today. “Now, how about breakfast? We have a long day ahead!”


	3. Cake and Conga Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune has an evasive moustache, Weiss insults his facial hair growing ability, Nora loves cake, and the Twister battles begin. Also, JNPR entice a massive conga line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> British spelling ahead! You have been warned.

“…And so I headed back to the village with the beast’s head, triumphant and welcomed a hero!”

Yang groaned. She had been sure by now that she was used to Prof. Port’s endless monologues about his brave endeavours, but today proved her wrong. Perhaps it was the sheer amount of colour in the room. The hilarity of the extent some of the students had gotten to with their costumes, perhaps. In this class alone, a giant carrot sat at the back. All hand crafted and paper mâchéed too. The mere sight of it had made Velvet’s stomach gurgle.

“And the moral is…the beasts shall not falter, and neither shall you!” Port concluded, spinning on his heel to face the students. Sadly it seemed none of the teachers had dressed up; the rest of the school in costume was a distraction enough in itself. At least Dr Oobleck had volunteered for the sponge-throwing…

“Now then, some questions are in order I think,” said Port, and the most of the class groaned.

“Come now,” his voice hardened a little. “Just because you’re not in uniform, it doesn’t mean the school day shouldn’t continue as normal. Now then. When faced against a pack of beowolves, what should you do? Jaune!”

The sombrero-clad boy jumped. His moustache fell off. “Run?” he squeaked.

Giggles splintered from certain areas of the classroom. Port rolled his eyes.

“No, Jaune. It was in my resplendent tale, remember?”

“Umm….” Jaune stared blankly at Port’s magnificent grey ‘tache, then down at his own fake one lying on his lap.

Weiss the doll raised a hand, and the professor nodded at her to speak.

“Aim for the pack leader if one is present, as without them, beowolves are more susceptible to confusion. If one cannot be seen, a demonstration of strength by defeating a number of them is recommended; though it does depend on the weapon.”

“Correct,” Port beamed at his star student, his moustache rising at the edges like a pair of arms pumping their muscles. “Next, what–” 

The bell for the end of class pulsated around the school, bouncing off each building and rolling around the amphitheatre.

“Another bad timing by the looks,” Port sighed. “Well, next time please be swifter with your answers.” He glanced at Jaune. “Class dismissed.”

Yang scooped her belongings together and dumped them all in her bag, receiving an exasperated look from Weiss who consistently grumbled that her teammates should be neater with their bags’ interiors. Still, even with her meticulous packing, they were ready to go before team JNPR was. Jaune and Pyrrha were still at their row, the former still plastering the stubborn black moustache above his mouth.

“It just won’t stay on,” he moaned.

“Maybe you should have actually grown one,” Pyrrha replied calmly.

“Maybe he can’t,” Weiss snickered.

The two friends glared at her.

“I can, Ice Queen,” Jaune growled. “I shave my face every morning – ask Pyrrha. I didn’t grown a moustache myself because it wouldn’t be thick enough. Not like this son of a female dog here.” He attempted to stick the ‘tache on again.

Ruby regarded it in horror. “It’s made from puppy fur?”

“No, no,” Pyrrha reassured her. “It’s just an expression.”

After being threatened by Yang that she would run off with his sombrero if he didn’t get a move on, Jaune gave up with the moustache, and meekly followed his and Ruby’s teams out of class. There was a reason why Yang had been so insistent on hurrying: it was lunchtime, and after grabbing a very quick bite to eat, they had to run to the cake sale and Twister match to supervise them. Team CFVY were already at the cake sale, which was a couple of ‘borrowed’ tables from the store cupboard, covered with a cloth and a range of cake. Supermarket and home-made by Ren and Velvet, they smothered the surface like a palace feast.

“Wow, guys!” Yang beamed. “If no one buys any of those, they must all be diabetic.”

A wide-eyed Nora prowled up to the stall. Ren wrapped his arms around her body to drag her away. Surprisingly, she didn’t fight back – she was stunned by the fact that her best friend was holding her like this, to restrain her or otherwise.

Sun and Neptune soon appeared – dressed as X-Ray and Vav respectively – with the Twister set.

“Sup, guys,” Sun grinned. “Don’t we all look amazing?” His grey eyes settled on Blake, and she looked away. He knew who she’d dressed up as; he’d stolen her notorious book once and speed-read some of it.

With most students still eating lunch, the teams took the opportunity to set up the Twister mat. People would have to pay to play, but not a lot. As they waited, a small match broke out between Yang, Ruby, Nora and Sun. Pyrrha served as umpire.

“Nora, right hand blue.”

“That’s miles awaaayyy! Yang, move your hair, I can’t see!”

“My hands are a little busy right now!” Yang wheezed.

“That’s what she said!” Sun chortled, and received a blow to the stomach from Yang. He fell over and was declared out, but he insisted that he wasn’t because he’d been deliberately hit. Pyrrha broke up the argument by having them simply restart the game.

As they watched, Neptune sidled beside Weiss. “You look great,” he whispered.

Weiss fluttered her eyelashes at him. “You too.” 

“I think you have the best costume.”

It couldn’t be seen under the make-up and paint, but Weiss Schnee actually blushed.

The contest was called to a swift conclusion when more students emerged from the mess hall. A majority were immediately drawn to the cake stall, while some opted to play Twister. For the next half an hour, a lot of cake was bought and eaten, the spotty mat claimed many worthy contenders, and the collection buckets became ever heavier.  
All too soon, the raucous bell whined throughout the school; lunch was over. Cake and Twister were quickly packed away (not without Nora and Ruby managing to steal a cupcake each – and depositing a few Lien in the bucket). 

“Come back here after classes!” Yang called to the dispersing students. “We have more activities – including throwing sponges at Dr Oobleck!”

The huntsmen and huntresses in training exchanged delighted beams and giggles. As they left, Jaune brought out a pair of maracas from under his poncho (“Has he got a whole dimension under that poncho or something?” Weiss wondered out loud) and shook them in a rousing rhythm. Pyrrha placed her hands on his shoulders from behind, and Nora took her shoulders, well Ren held onto Nora’s. Before long, an entire 20-strong conga line had formed, dancing back to Beacon.

“Di-da-da-da-da- _dah_ -da! Di-da-da-da-da- _dah_ -da!”

More and more people joined at the back, singing and bouncing along. Whenever a student left the line to go to their lesson, another took their place. From the academy gardens, Glynda Goodwitch just stared. A dancing snake of ridiculously and gaudily-dressed trainees bopped past, led by the biggest hat she’d ever seen. The conga line seemed endless, and painfully slow as they walked in rhythm without stepping on each other. In the end, she had to break up the fun.

“The school does not condone any…method to and from lessons if it makes students at late,” she said sternly to the rather resentful youths. However, when the gardens were clear, she allowed herself to chuckle. Imagine, a conga line winding in the corridors, like a lost rainbow worm! People would wonder what Beacon had turned into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter i think, and probably not very good sorry! It was late when I wrote this. Oobleck WILL get sponged next chapter, and I may include more shipping-related goings-ons. As in, things MAY get more than subtle, haven't decided yet.


End file.
